Wildey was born[2] and raised[3] in Yonkers, New York, adjacent to New York City. He did World War II military service at Naval Air Station Barbers Point in Hawaii, where he began his art career as a cartoonist for the base newspaper.[4] He recalled his professional start as freelancing for the magazine and comic-book company Street & Smith in 1947.[5] Because comic-book writer and artist credits were not routinely given during this era, the earliest confirmed Wildey works are two signed pieces in this publisher's Top Secret #9 (June 1949): a one-page house ad and the 10-page adventure story "Queen in Jeopardy", by an unknown writer.[6]

Historian Ken Quattro describes Wildey's most "noteworthy" Western as the 19-issue Atlas series Outlaw Kid, "his take on the classic Western antihero", in which Wildey illustrated three to four stories per issue:

In concept, it was typical of all the Stan Lee-created Kids (Colt, Rawhide, Two-Gun, Ringo, etc.). What set it apart was Wildey's art. . . . The Outlaw Kid was a monthly opportunity for Wildey to hone and develop his burgeoning art skills. Using Outlaw Kid #11 (May 1956) as an example of his work well into the series, the influence of cinema on his work is evident. Though he may have had this influence all along, now it is readily apparent, with panels staged like film scenes. The characters have a realistic, illustrative look to them. . . . Most significantly, his artwork finally had the consistent luster of professionalism. Wildey varied his inking from the fine stroke of an etching to the bold use of solid blacks to attain dramatic chiaroscuro effects.[4]

Much of this work was reprinted by Marvel from 1970 through 1974, exposing his work to a later generation.[6]

Two such proposed strips would help provide a character name and some narrative background to Wildey's later animated television series, Jonny Quest. As he described in 1986,

I once tried an automobile comic strip. Because this whole country runs on the automobile economy, right? . . . In my case, my guy was sort of an automobile designer. He raced cars. He had this glamorous European background, and raced on American tracks. I called him Stretch Bannon. . . . Then, later on, I tried another strip about a writer-artist team that traveled the world getting into adventures. The name was Race Dunhill. So I put the Race and the Bannon together and that's where Race Bannon came from.[10]

I had applied to Universal [Studios] (which was called something else at the time) as sort of a storyboard [artist] / production designer. [Producer] Stanley Kramer's office got interested in my stuff, so I figured, rather than move back to Arizona, where my family lives, maybe I could latch onto Stanley Kramer. [The animation studio] Hanna-Barbera was up the street from there, so I simply crossed the street, went up to Hanna-Barbera, and said, 'Look, I'm an artist' and so forth. A couple of people there had read some of my comic strips and comic books, so they said, 'Come in and see [Joe] Barbera.' The following day, or maybe even the same day, Barbera called me up and said, 'Can you design, in your style, a show [starring the radio drama adventure character] Jack Armstrong?'[10]

Wildey wrote and drew a presentation, using such magazines as Popular Science, Popular Mechanics, and Science Digest "to project what would be happening 10 years hence", and devising or fancifully updating such devices as a "snowskimmer" and hydrofoils. When Hanna-Barbera could not obtain the rights to Jack Armstrong, the studio had Wildey rework the concept. Wildey "went home and wrote Jonny Quest that night — which was not that tough." For inspiration he drew on Jackie Cooper and Frankie Darrow movies, Milton Caniff's comic stripTerry and the Pirates, and, at the behest of Hanna-Barbera, the James Bond movie Dr. No.[10] Hanna-Barbera refused to give him a "created by" credit, Wildey said in 1986, and he and studio "finally arrived on 'Based on an idea created by', and that was my credit."[10]

The prime-time TV animated series Jonny Quest debuted on ABC on September 18, 1964. As comics historian Daniel Herman wrote,

Wildey's designs on Jonny Quest gave the cartoon a distinctive look, with its heavy blacks [i.e. shading and shadow] and its Caniff-inspired characters. . . . The show was an action/adventure story involving the feature's namesake, an 11-year-old boy. The cast of characters included Jonny's kid sidekick, named Hadji, Jonny's globetrotting scientist dad . . . and the groups' handsome bodyguard, secret agent Race Bannon, who looks as if he stepped out of the pages of [Caniff's comic strip] Steve Canyon. . . . The look of Jonny Quest was unlike any other cartoon television show of the time, with its colorful backgrounds, and its focus on the characters with their jet packs, hydrofoils, and lasers. Wildey would work on other animation projects, but it was with his work on Jonny Quest that he reached his widest audience, bringing a comic book sense of design and style to television cartoons.[12]

Wildey did not design the more cartoonishly drawn comic relief pet dog, Bandit, which was designed by animator Dick Bickenbach.[10]

In the mid-1960s, Wildey returned to comic books, drawing stories for the premiere issues of Harvey Comics' Thrill-O-Rama, Unearthly Spectaculars (both Oct. 1965 series) and Double-Dare Adventures (Dec. 1965).[6] Most significantly during this time,[13] he collaborated with writer Gaylord DuBois on Gold Key Comics' licensed series Tarzan when that long-running comic, which had been reprinting stories drawn by Russ Manning, began producing new work beginning with issue #179 (Sept. 1968). The duo's work appeared through issue #187 (Sept. 1969).[6]

As both writer and artist, Wildey created his own Western feature, "Rio", that ran in Eclipse Comics' Eclipse Monthly #1-10 (Aug. 1983 - July 1984), and he returned to his most prominent creation that decade with a Jonny Quest comic-book series published by Comico. Wildey wrote and drew the stories in Jonny Quest #1 (July 1986) and Jonny Quest Classics #1-3 (May–July 1987), and provided several covers. Comico also reprinted several of his Rio stories in a June 1987 one-shot, and Wildey produced new Rio stories for Dark Horse Comics' two-issue miniseriesRio at Bay (July-Aug. 1992).[6]

His last original comics work was the painted art for the eight-page Western tale "The End of the Time of Leinard" by writers Faye Perozich and Harlan Ellison in Dark Horse's Harlan Ellison's Dream Corridor Special (Jan. 1995).[6]

In 1971, Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr. published a Wildey portfolio, The Movie Cowboy, consisting of 26 illustrations sized 12x18 inches. Said historian Quattro, "Wildey shifted seamlessly between pen and brush, from the finest pen strokes imaginable, to the soft nuances of wash, from the monumental close-up of a grizzled Martin Landau, to the sunny sweetness of two women waiting for a stagecoach."[14]